Irish start-up SwiftComply selected for Techstars

Dublin-based company opens €1 million investment round to fund US expansion

Michael O’Dwyer of SwiftComply pitching at the Startup Europe Summit in Berlin. The Irish start-up has won a place on the prestigious Techstars accelerator programme in London. Photograph: Ralf Rühmeier

Irish start-up SwiftComply has won a place on the prestigious Techstars accelerator programme in London.

Techstars is one of the most competitive accelerator programmes in the world, with fewer than 1 per cent of applicants accepted. SwiftComply was one of 11 start-ups selected from more than 1,000 applications for the 90-day programme.

The SwiftComply team joins a diverse group of entrepreneurs from 19 nationalities. The start-ups are from a range of sectors including virtual reality, healthtech, data and blockchain, from countries including Portugal, Croatia and Britain.

SwiftComply’s platform connects regulators, food service outlets, and compliance service providers, enabling the effective recovery and reuse of fat, oil and grease waste.

“By introducing technology into a largely manual process we have developed a business-friendly solution that improves compliance and reduces the financial and administrative burden on the food service industry,” Mr O’Dwyer said.

The other start-ups on the programme are Aid Tech, AppraiseMe, AssetVault, Avalon, DataSine, MadBarz, Memgraph, Mindi, PIC Square and Tenzo.

Each start-up will receive $100,000 in funding, office space in London for three months, $20,000 in additional funding to cover living expenses during the programme, mentorship and an intense 90-day accelerator programme, which will culminate in a demo day.

SwiftComply chief executive Mick O’Dwyer said the company was thrilled to be selected for the programme, following “an extremely competitive process with over 1,000 applicants from around the world”.

“Techstars provides funding and mentorship that rapidly accelerates the growth of our business. Techstars also connects us with angel and VC investors in London, which is timely as we have just opened a €1 million-funding round to fund our US market expansion,” he added.

Start-ups which have graduated from the Techstars programme, have gone on to raise more than $2.3 billion in funding, with more than 11 per cent of start-up graduates being acquired.

The average funding raised by each Techstars graduate company is almost $3 million.